Peripheral nervous system and spinal cord involvement in lymphoma

Abstract

Nine‐hundred‐eighty‐nine patients with diagnosis of lymphoma were studied. Forty‐six cases (4.6%) had compressions of the spinal cord or roots. Forty‐two patients (4.2%) had Herpes zoster virus infections, which in 6 cases were of disseminated type. The major predisposing factors for infection were: advanced stage of lymphoma, previous systemic chemotherapy and splenectomy. Toxic polyneuropathy secondary to chemotherapy was found in 39 patients (3.9%). In 14 cases, the polyneuropathic symptoms were the main complaint (Group 1), while in the remaining 25 cases the diagnosis was made during neurological consultations because of unrelated symptoms (Group 2). Both groups did not have significant differences in the total dose of chemotherapy received. The electrophysiological studies showed an axonal neuropathy in both groups. The discontinuation of chemotherapy was found to be a limiting factor in the appearance of neuropathic symptoms. Other less frequent forms of involvement were: compression of peripheral nerves or nerve plexi from lymphadenopathies (3 cases), radiation myelopathy (1 case), and Guillain‐Barré Syndrome associated with Hodgkin's Lymphoma (1 case).

Lymphoma-associated dysimmune polyneuropathies

“…Another retrospective study of the non-metastatic neurological syndromes "of obscure origin" in 774 patients with the "reticuloses", established 5 cases of peripheral neuropathy in patients with HL, lymphosarcoma and CLL: resolved GBS was reasonably diagnosed in 1 patient with HL in remission [65]. A combined prospective (in-patients) and retrospective (out-patients) study evaluated for peripheral nervous system and spinal cord involvement in 989 patients with lymphoma (563 NHL; 426 HL): GBS was diagnosed in only 1 patient with HL [66]. A smaller, prospective clinical and electrophysiological study of 30 patients with lymphoma established 1 patient each with acute/remitting and subacute/unremitting severe demyelinating polyneuropathies; the main histological abnormality was segmental demyelination/remyelination, but with negative immunofluorescence studies [67].…”

Malignant Involvement of the Peripheral Nervous System in Patients with Cancer: Multimodality Imaging and Pathologic Correlation

“…cal evaluation of patients with lymphoma and brachial plexopathies (29). Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy is another process that can mimic malignancy; this autoimmune process has an unknown trigger and is characterized by progressive, often symmetric sensory and motor symptoms that evolve over a period of more than 8 weeks.…”

Hodgkin's disease of the thoracic vertebrae

“…In 90% of patients with Hodgkin's disease, the disease is thought to arise in the lymph nodes, whereas in the remaining 10% of patients the disease arises at other sites [1]. Spinal lesions occur in 5.8% of Hodgkin's disease patients [4]. Wood and Coltman estimated that primary 10 extranodal presentation of Hodgkin's disease occurs in < 0.25% of patients [5].…”